On May 11th, My Baba's Kitchen screened at Baka Gallery Cafe for over 50 of director Stephanie Turenko's family and friends. It was a great night that not only featured a screening of the animated short film, it also featured musical stylings of Polky Village Band, and there were perogies for sale and fun folk items up for a raffle!

I'd like to thank everyone not only for coming out, but also for supporting the creation of this film. I truly appreciate it. <3

Finally, we're happy to announce our film is ready for the world! We'd like you to come celebrate with us on THURSDAY, MAY 11th, 2017 at Baka Gallery Cafe (Runnymede and Bloor, Toronto) from 7 pm - 11 pm.

There will be perogies (of course), drinks, singing, raffle, and a screening of the film!

My Baba’s Kitchen is brisk six-minute saga of filmmaker Stephanie Turenko’s grandparents’ experiences in a displaced persons camp after the Second World War, and their subsequent arrival and marriage in Canada. 

Matthew Zyla, the co-producer of My Baba's Kitchen and I attended Toronto Short Film Festival last night! It was such an honour to be recognized for our efforts with the loudest applause. It seemed the crowd really enjoyed the film!

I'm so excited to announce that My Baba's Kitchen has been selected to play at this year's Toronto Short Film Fest! The film is slotted to play on Friday, March 18th, at 6:15pm at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto. Please join us if you can!

Over the summer, I did a long roadtrip across Canada and the States. During that time, whenever I was in a wifi zone, I applied to film festivals using two websites Withoutabox and FilmFreeway - both designed to make applications very simple.

So far, I've applied to 18 film festivals, some in Canada, some in USA and some international (there are 2 I'm crossing my fingers for in Ukraine!) My goal is to get into at least one festival so we'll see...

In other news, my film will be screened in 2 locations this week and next! This Thursday September 10th, My Baba's Kitchen will be screened at St. Vladimir Institute for Ukrainian Heritage Day! The screening starts at 5pm, so I;ll be running from work :)

It's great to know I have the support of the Ukrainian community in screening my film. I really appreciate my friends and family helping to promote it. It was a labour of love and I'm glad I have so many people a part of it with me. <3

Dear world, my film is complete. I'm so happy to be able to finally share the news.

I shared the news with my grandmother the other day. She started to laugh because I think she had forgotten that I was working on a film about her, or maybe she thought I wasn't serious. Regardless, she's happy it's done and excited to see it. She did request for her photo not to be in there, or her name and I apologized in advance because both those are present. "Don't show my face in it!" I told her a it was a cartoon and she felt a bit better. Sorry Baba. :)

The next couple months will consist of me applying to film festivals. My goal is to get into AT LEAST one. Fingers crossed! Thanks everyone for your consistent support. This project was a huge team effort and I could have never made it alone.

Yesterday, Matt (my co-producer/sound mixer) sat down at a cafe and literally worked for 5 hours straight. We're super excited about the results. We've completed the intro and credits! Now all we're left with is adding subtitles! I've chosen to have 3 sets: English, French and of course Ukrainian.

I've also registered my film yesterday under copyright! Whoo-hoo!

After the actual film is complete, I will start submitting it to film festivals. There are SO many to choose from! But after creating accounts on Withoutabox and Filmfreeway, I feel more optimistic about the submission process.

And while that is happening, I will be collaborating with my Art Producers, Oksana and Rostyk, for the case/DVD design. I need to sort out printing, how many etc. Lots of questions that I need to answer!

And finally, I will most definitely have a screening for family, friends and supporters of my film. That location and date are still undecided but please check back!

As Matt said yesterday confidently, "Steph, we're at 90% completion!". And that makes me very excited!

Who would have thought that making a 5 minute film would take so long?!
My Baba's Kitchen has proven to be a long-running side project. But I'm very happy to report the process is still going strong! Lemko Bluegrass Band has officially completed the score of the film and it sounds FANTASTIC!

The next steps are foley work - for all you non film people (don't worry I didn't know what is was until I started making one myself) - it's the sound effects. Then, subtitles, credits and final edits. I'm hoping to have everything complete in a couple months in order to submit the film to as many film festivals as humanly possible! Fingers crossed folks!

AND I've also started sending out the THANK YOUS to all my lovely funders during my Rockethub campaign last year that raised over $5000 for the film! If you haven't gotten yours, not to worry! I'm sending them out in batches :) Copies of the film will be ready soon!

Thanks again everyone for the crazy support. People have been writing that they're excited to see the film. I am just as excited. Stay tuned for the Premiere!

For the past 5 months, the animator Anya and I have been in contact every week. I'm excited to say that this particular week I had saw the whole film for the first time! I am so proud of what it's becoming.
There are still some edits to be done, music and sound needs to be added and let's not forget the post-processing.

It's assuring to know I have my team behind me during this process. Thanks everyone for your help and support. Apparently making a film as a side project takes a very long time! But, it's happening.

I promise I'll keep everyone posted regarding the completion date. I'm aiming to have it completed before the end of 2014. Fingers crossed. :)

It's such an exciting time!
There are only 8 days left in my fundraising venture to raise funds for my film! And to be honest, if you asked me a couple days ago, I would have said I probably wouldn't make the $7,000 goal I set for myself.

My RocketHub page is up and running!
What is RocketHub you ask? Well it's a crowd-funding website that helps people fundraise their projects! It works on an exchange system: funds from you, get rewards from me! There are various levels of donation, so feel free to support me however you can.

In order for this film to be a success, I need funds and support from my community. I thank you all in advance!! :)

Yay! It's official. I have an animator. I'd like to introduce the world to Anna! She is from Ukraine and we had met a couple years ago but recently reconnected through the miracles of facebook and a friend's recommendation.
Here's her showreel which shows some amazing work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6V813ZhWZs

But we decided to work together because I love her aesthetic. I think she'll really make this film work. Here's a music video she made for our friends in he Ludy Dobri: